A rchive Date
[ 10-04-2002 ]
Category
[ Philosophy ]
sub-Categoy
[ Hinduism ]
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[http://canoe.ca/LifewiseLiving0204/april3_tantra_a-par.html
The many faces of Tantra
By Christian Pinaud
Therapist, instructor in kundalini-yoga and tantra
To westerners, the dizzying heights of physical bliss promised by tantric sex have gained a near-mythical status. As tantra instructor Christian Pinaud reports, however, tantra is a means of spiritual awakening—not a shortcut to mind-blowing sex ... though this remains one of the teaching's pleasant side effects.
In and of itself, tantra means nothing. We should speak instead of tantras. Tantras are teachings passed down through the Hindu oral tradition, and they are mostly anonymous. They take the form of dialogues between Shiva (the essence of the male principle, Awareness) and Parvati (the essence of the female principle, Energy), which reveal a number of highly practical techniques designed to kick-start the process of spiritual awakening.
Although we speak of "spiritual awakening," the techniques of tantra have little to do with philosophical or religious speculation and they may be used by anybody—regardless of one's specific philosophical or religious views.
Before going any further, it's necessary to explain two of the key terms that underlie the entire tantric experience: Awareness and Energy. While Western science has only recently caught on to the idea of there is energy contained in all matter and that it can be detected and manipulated in various ways, the wise tantric teachers of India, China and Tibet have been aware of this for several millennia. According to classical tantric teaching, our bodies are storehouses of incredible energy reserves and this energy must be controlled through Awareness.
The difficulty for human beings, however, is that while the principle of Energy is continually seeking to return to an undifferentiated state of nirvanic Awareness, the very act of living pulls us away from this original purpose. This pulling away is due in large part to the function of our minds, which control everything that's separate from ourselves through our five senses (hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste).
It is this supercomputer that dissects all our sensorial relationships, interprets them in function of past impressions (vasanas and samskaras) and stores in memory and classifies them according to the good and bad they bring us. It then gives an order and launches an action in response. For example, when I was a baby I memorized that putting my hand on a hot stove burned me and brought me great pain. I therefore learned to avoid it. This is how our personality—our ego—is built in such a way as to allow us to come into contact with others and with the world.
The wise tantric teachers have developed a cartography of the human being that matches specific events in our lives (whether physical, emotional, psychic or spiritual) with certain aspects of the inner or material space that makes us who we are. We are well aware, for example, that, when we receive strong feelings of love, we feel a soft warmth that shines at the level of the chest, where the physical heart is. Also, when we must answer firmly and defend your territory, we feel our stomachs react and fill with energy (or empty themselves of it!).
I will not expand on this cartography because there are already several serious books that talk about the different energy zones within the body. The question then is: what does all of this have to do with Energy and Awareness?
Because our ideal, as sentient beings, is to reach the level of spiritual awakening that brings permanent peace and harmony to our lives and our beings, the tantric method can be the most effective in allowing us to reach this goal. How?
The first step is recognizing that we are constantly being acted upon by outward stimuli. Emotions, thoughts—even ideas that we consider to be our very own—have grown up with us and been "hard-wired" into our beings. Rather than seeking to block or repress these emotions, tantric practice (much like many methods of meditation) allows us to gain Awareness of the external stimuli that trigger these emotions, to take note of the most fundamental inward workings of our beings.
But beware, this is easy to say but hard to do! While it can be done on your own, classical methods normally require the guidance of a teacher or "guru." Only this guru can guide us in how to channel our energies into reaching a state of true awakening.
All tantric practices are based on the two poles of Awareness and Energy and on the interaction between them. The oldest known essay, the "Vijnana Bhairava Tantra", lists 112 tantric techniques, from the most simple (observing our breathing) to the most "intellectual" (being absorbed in the contemplation of the undifferentiated). Among these techniques, only four concern the sexual union with a partner of the opposite sex. Some of them help us to awaken and channel this energy. This is the work of kundalini-yoga, which uses controlled breathing, the sounds of mantras, visualization, and dynamic and static postures.
Where does this Energy come from? Where is it condensed? Well, it's our life energy, our sexual energy. According to the tradition, Kundalini sleeps, wrapped up in itself three and a half times, and is located at the second chakra, positioned a few centimetres above the pelvic floor. We use this energy every day for all the actions that we end up doing, consciously or unconsciously. It circulates and feeds us (with varying levels of success) according to the physical, psychic and spiritual state we are in, and depending on the obstacles that it encounters at the various levels of our being.
Naturally, we use our Energy to its full capacity during the course of sexual relations—not only at times when we give ourselves over to another completely, but also on those occasions in which our intentions are not pure and we're more interested in our own egos than in sharing true love. In such cases, this Energy can be destructive, often leading to megalomania and other disorders.
The purpose of tantra (at least where sex is concerned) is for the partners to use the occasion to recognize themselves not as two separate individuals, but as parts of a greater whole. Seeing themselves no longer as individual men and women, they assume the transcendental identities of Shiva and Shakti, each recognizing in the other the male principle and the female principle rather than the individual human being.
Let's now discuss polarity, which is an essential part of the spirit of tantra. We often talk about our male and female parts, our left and right sides, our left and our right brains. One aspect of us, the male one, underlies our action, power and strength energies, and the female aspect underlies our welcoming, compassionate and love energies. Shiva and Shakti are both in us, with one aspect stronger than the other depending on whether you are a man or a woman. To move towards self-realization is to move towards the union of the male and female in us (the unio mystica of alchemists), recognizing the existence of the two energies in us and taking steps to achieve this fusion through appropriate techniques.
Since we've already covered the question of sex, let's now talk about the heart's landscapes, without which no spiritual progress can be lasting. Often forgotten, especially by many Westerners tempted by the tantric adventure, it is at the centre of all tantric practices. Without the opening of the heart, without the awakening of his female sensitivity, there is no salvation for man.
The heart, the chakra of the heart, located in the middle of the chest, is the purifying filter for all our emotions and all our ill-directed desires. Vapidity doesn't occur there and neither does sentimentality. Without any disinterested love, without humbleness (it doesn't mean without expression of its power!), any spiritual road is an illusion, and tantra is no exception. What matters is to go towards the other, to recognize ourselves in the other, to exchange with the other at every level of awareness, from sex to the most ethereal planes.
This is the basis of tantric sadhana, which aims to be a way of access to the divine in the real world (which may include a family life, professional activity, etc.—and which is not restricted to the cloistered renouncement of a monastery). Without a purified heart that's ready to recognize the other for what he is—a perfect mirror of ourselves (complete with shortcomings, weaknesses, etc.) it wouldn't be reasonable to expect any progress from the tantric practice.
Tantra, the way of the heart
Yes, Tantra, the way of the heart. With an open heart, a heart that allows us to respect ourselves for what we are while respecting the other for what he is, tantra can offer great gains.
I want to thank everyone who preceded me in this process, who guided my steps and opened the way: Yogi Bhajan, white tantra and kundalini-yoga master, Osho Rajneesh, who opened the doors of tantra to the Western world, and Anand Sharabi, who is closest to me. Sat Nam.]
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